Tambo’s Susan Jarvis has made history as the Local Goverment Managers Australia Queensland branch’s first female president in its 68 year history.
Currently the general manager for Community and Organisational Capacity with the Blackall/Tambo Regional Council, Susan was elected at the annual general meeting last month.
It’s a great achievement for the manager who was born in the Tambo hospital and educated at the local school.
Her first job was as a Queensland police officer, after which she built a career with the Myer group as a store manager in Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland.
Susan returned to Tambo 22 years ago and began her local government career with the shire council, negotiating the changes wrought by amalgamation to be promoted to the position of manager of corporate and community services with the new Blackall-Tambo Regional Council in 2008.
She successfully fought a breast cancer diagnosis in 2011, going on to be elected to the LGMA board in 2013 as the central Queensland branch representative.
Since then she has been a director-at-large, the organisation’s treasurer, and its vice president for the last 12 months.
Some 74 of the state’s 77 councils are subscribers to the LGMA and Susan said she would be seeking out opportunities to increase recognition in the local government industry by raising the organisation’s profile in the areas of policy and advocacy.
She will be looking to enhance membership experiences as well.